For more than four decades, Colorado has followed the letter of the law that dictates how flows on the Rio Grande are divvied up with downstream neighbors New Mexico and Texas. But a New Mexico environmental group concerned with the survival of an endangered fish says that is not enough.

Taking on a river project such as the Rio Grande is challenging and capital-consuming. However, these projects are vitally important to hundreds of different stakeholders in the San Luis Valley. The Rio Grand Headwaters Restoration Project was formed to implement the 2001 study that was performed to improve the river.

Irrigation season has begun in Colorado, causing a significant reduction in the amount of water flowing through the Taos County section of the Río Grande. Streamflow data from the Colorado Division of Water Resources showed the Río Grande was flowing at 1,330 cubic-feet per second (cfs) when it came out of the mountains near Del Norte, Colo Wednesday (April 30).

Colorado Division of Water Resources State Engineer Dick Wolfe and Deputy State Engineer Michael Sullivan reminded the large crowd attending a well rules advisory committee meeting on Thursday they mean business about implementing groundwater regulations. "You are going to get shut off," Wolfe responded to a question on Thursday about what will happen to irrigators who neither ha

Drought conditions on the San Luis Valley floor have prompted the state engineer to urge farmers to conserve water while federal agricultural officials consider requesting a disaster designation for the area. State Engineer Dick Wolfe said in open letter to valley water users this week that any overdraft of the valley's aquifers will have to be repaid down the road.

If the experts with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center are right, this winter’s La Niña tap of moisture may slow to a trickle the next few months. The latest outlook, covering March through May, suggests there’s a 30 percent chance that most of Colorado will experience above average temperatures and below normal precipitation during the period.

The Interbasin Compact Committee honored the memory of San Luis Valley water leader Ray Wright Thursday. Wright, 56, and Doug Shriver, 53, both of Monte Vista, were killed when snow collapsed the roof of a cabin they were working on near Creede in March.

Opponents of a plan to reduce groundwater pumping in the north-central
part of the San Luis Valley renewed their arguments Monday that the
proposal did not do enough to protect senior surface water users.